Road Hogs.

Driving slow and hogging the fast lane is a BIG N-O! | Photo by Quick Meme.

Manners aside, that is the term I’d use on inconsiderate drivers who hog the fast lane. Why does one bother cutting into the fast lane if the rest of the cars are far away ahead of you and the remaining cars behind you are trying to get past you?

Patrick Stewart’s expression and gesture has long become a famous meme for 9GAG, and one can see why it is being used. Clearly, the exasperation is pretty obvious. And I will never understand why drivers do that in the first place. They looked pretty content driving in the middle lane. Suddenly, they see a gap widening in the fast lane and they decide to take advantage by signalling to come in. Naturally, there is little to no harm in giving them a free pass, so we let them in. But what happens when your kindness is being taken advantage of? Or when some drivers mistake your kindness for foolishness?

This morning on my usual traffic-jammed drive to work, a lady in a Toyota Innova signalled to cut in to my lane in front of me. I was already driving at a decent speed in the fast lane, but hey, a little kindness goes a long way, right? At that point in time, I saw no reason not to let her in, so I did. And for awhile, the lady maintained a respectable distance and speed with the car in front of her. As the traffic cleared, I realised that the cars in front of her have all gone way further and were gradually disappearing from my sight. That’s odd, I frowned, and wondered what was keeping this lady from going any faster. As it is, I was already late for work.

I tried to cut out and surge forward but was blocked by another car in the middle lane, so I jumped back into the fast lane, and prayed for her to go a little bit faster. When that failed, I decided that enough was enough, I was going to make her leave the fast lane. Whether she was a new driver, or a dense driver, or a driver who couldn’t be bothered to keep pace with the others, but the reason why I let her in was because I felt that her car would have no trouble keeping up with the rest. Moving my car from side to side, falling back and speeding up again, I filled her rear view mirror with the bright yellow colour of my car until she got the hint and changed lanes. The relief I felt was enormous!

I finally got ahead of her, and saw that all the other cars in front of us had long gone down the highway. Man, some people should do themselves a favour and trade their cars in for bicycles! They could save a lot of money, and get some exercise too! Sheesh!